


Budʹ zdorov! (Bless you!)

by eafay70



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: (don't worry it's just a cold), Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M, Sickfic, now with art!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-07-27 07:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Sid sneezes and loses his magic, which isn't unusual. The unusual part is that he's somehow gained a different kind of magic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hockeyallthehockey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hockeyallthehockey/gifts).



> Hi! :) One of your prompts reminded me of a "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" novel I had as a kid in which Sabrina has a magical cold, sneezes at school, causes her powers to move to Libby, and has to sneeze in front of her again to get her powers back. So this is a variant on that. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> The magic medicine Sid purchases is named for Cold-EEZE, an over-the-counter medicine some of my relatives swear by for treating a cold at the first sign of symptoms. I've never tried it myself, so I have no idea if my relatives are right.

Sid woke up with an unpleasant tickle in his throat. He groaned in recognition of the beginning of a cold, then headed to the bathroom and dug through the medicine cabinet for emergency cold medicine...only to scowl when he couldn't find any.

"Oh, right," he mumbled to himself, grimacing at how bad his voice already sounded. "I keep forgetting to write that down on the shopping list."

With a weary sigh, he walked out of the bathroom, wiggling his fingers to turn on the light in the hallway with his magic. Unfortunately, he sneezed while doing so, and his magic caused the light to flicker before buzzing off completely. Sid groaned - this cold was affecting his magic, so he'd have to be very careful around electricity and electronics. And he'd have to remember to get the right kind of medicine after practice.

**

Practice went...well, quite frankly, it barely went.

Everyone seemed to have the same cold. Sid wasn't sure he'd ever heard "bless you" in so many languages at once. 

Sully must have heard everything from the hallway, because he only stuck his head in long enough to shout, "Trainers say to go home, get rest, and don't come back until you stop sneezing!"

"That mean you, too, Sid!" Geno joked before sneezing about five times in a row.

"I know," Sid managed to reply before sneezing himself. "And bless you." He sneezed a few more times while saying goodbye to everyone, but didn't think too much of it until he drove to the pharmacy and nearly broke the door to the magical medicines room.

"Your cold makes it harder to control your strength," the pharmacist-witch explained quietly. "I'll relabel a bottle of Liquid Bold-Cheese and give it to you at the normal counter."

"Thanks," Sid mumbled. He didn't understand why his strength would need controlling just because he was sick, but he didn't question it - he just paid for the 'cold medicine' and drove home.

He entered the code at his gate with no difficulty, which seemed to indicate that his control over his electricity magic was fine. However, the magic wards in the foyer disproved this idea - his normal 'wiggle fingers to shock the wards in a predetermined pattern' routine didn't work. It took a good five minutes to stop sneezing long enough to clearly state his magic password and make his way to the bedroom, where he leaned on a chair to catch his breath - and broke the chair.

This was all too weird. He needed help.

**

"Did I hear you right?" Mom asked over the phone. "Did you break a chair just by leaning on it??"

"Yeah," Sid mumbled. "It's like my magic changed from electricity to strength."

"That would make sense, actually," Mom said. "If you and another magic user have the same cold and you both sneeze, then your powers might switch."

"But I'm the only one on the Pens with magic," Sid argued. "I've been on this team for years, and I've never detected any magic that wasn't mine. And I've definitely never seen anyone do anything that would even hint at magic strength."

"Well, someone else obviously does, because you swapped with them when you sneezed."

"Everyone was sneezing, Mom. Nobody started making lights flicker or anything electric that I could tell."

"Well, you'll have to sneeze in front of them again and have them sneeze in front of you again in order to get your powers back."

"How?"

"I have no idea," Mom admitted.

**

Sid took out his phone and frowned at the lack of activity in the group chat. Surely that's where someone would have said something if all the lights started acting weird, right?

There weren't any new texts just for him, either, which only deepened Sid's frown. He was the captain, which his teammates interpreted to mean 'person likeliest to know what to do,' which meant he was usually the first person contacted when someone needed advice or help. This was far from the weirdest situation he'd faced - why wouldn't the person just pick up the phone and text?

"Because he can't," Sid realized out loud. Whoever suddenly had electricity magic had probably broken his phone with a single tap on the screen, just like Sid had done with his first smartphone before figuring out how to control his magic when using the device. Therefore, Sid had to figure out who wasn't using his phone - without making anyone else suspicious.

He decided to send a simple message to his teammates one at a time: _How are you?_

After getting replies to the effect of 'sick but otherwise fine' from each rookie, which was very reassuring, Sid decided to text Geno next. He didn't worry about Geno the way he sometimes worried about the rookies, but Geno was important and therefore next.

Normally Geno replied right away, but he didn't this time. Sid figured being sick was slowing him down. After all, Sid would know by now if Geno had magic, right?

After five minutes without a response, Sid got very worried. He called Geno, but it went straight to voicemail, which was unusual. With some pauses to sneeze, he left a message: "Hey, G, it's...Sid, call or text when you...get this."

After another ten minutes of waiting, Sid was so worried for Geno's general wellbeing that he decided to drive to Geno's house. He prayed he was overreacting and that Geno had simply fallen asleep away from his phone, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.

**

Everything looked normal at Geno's house. Sid parked, tried to take a deep breath to calm down, started coughing instead, and waited to catch his breath before actually getting out of the car. He rang the bell and heard a groan in response. 

"Geno?!" Sid shouted. Another groan. Sid opened the door, cringing at the sound of the lock breaking, and stepped inside. "Geno, where are you?"

"Kitchen," came the weak response. Sid closed the door as best he could and made his way to the kitchen, where Geno was leaning over the counter. He sneezed loudly and looked up. "Hi, Sid."

"Hi, Geno." Sid sneezed and blinked before speaking further. "Are you okay?"

"No," Geno groaned. "Everything breaking - house alarm, phone, fridge. I try fix, but too heavy."

"Where's your phone?" Sid asked. Geno handed it to him. Sid wiggled his fingers, and it came back to life. "Okay, try lifting your fridge now."

Geno's jaw dropped, but he stood up and walked over to the fridge anyway. He lifted it effortlessly. "You -?"

"Yeah." Sid wiggled his fingers a few more times, and the fridge began to whir. Geno set it back down. "You had no idea about me, either, eh?"

"In Russia, always hide magic for sports," Geno explained. "I'm get used to hide for all the hockey, so eventually I hide all the time. And of course Sid best control - not even make lights flicker when we win the Cup!"

Sid laughed softly. "I guess so."

Geno smiled and rested a hand on Sid's shoulder. "Since you discover one big secret, I tell you other big secret, okay?" Sid nodded. Geno leaned down and kissed him quickly.

"Same here, I think," Sid said slowly. "I worried about you a lot. I was so scared when you didn't answer your phone..."

"Sorry for worry, Sid," Geno replied. "Kiss again as apology?"

"Or just because you want to," Sid laughed.

So they did.


	2. Art by Devisama/cakemakethme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Devisama (AO3) aka cakemakethme (Tumblr) made this wonderful art for this fic! =D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!! <3 You deserve all the good things in the world, and I'm sorry things haven't always been working out like that recently. To quote Sondheim, "art isn't easy" - I hope you find inspiration, time, and everything else needed to make art every so often, but I understand that things don't always work out like that. Please know that your art is always loved!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go tell this artist how amazing this is!  
> [Tumblr: cakemakethme](http://cakemakethme.tumblr.com/)  
> [AO3: Devisama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devisama/pseuds/Devisama)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3 Please consider leaving kudos and/or a comment if you liked it!


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